I don't suffer the cold as much as the guys up north but I have been wondering about this for sometime. The auto tranny has a heat exchanger that has engine coolant running through it and a transmission cooler just behind the grill. Would it help with warm up if you just blocked the air to the cooler behind the grill? The ice cold air running across that outside cooler may be helping to keep the engine cool because the other heat exchanger will have ice cold tranny fluid running through it. In the winter my trans temp bearly moves off the peg.
I have even thought of getting a oil bypass thermostat from Summit for about $55 US and installing it so the outside cooler is bypassed until the fluid hits 175 degrees F. I think it would help in the less extreme cold but not too sure if it would when it gets below zero.

 

I like the idea, although trans fluid is usually higher than your antifreeze and that unit is supposed to be a cooler.

All i can think of is that cold fluid rushing its way to your hot trans when the temp switch opens. The only thing i can compare this to is the horrible rattle sounds in old houses when you turn the hot water in the shower on full blast... the hot and cold rush by each other causing pressure differences enough to rattle the pipes in your walls.

 

How about that uncontrollable shiver you have when you are in shock when your knees are shaking and your teeth are chattering or when you had just fallen into icy cold water.

Think I have experienced at least one of them.

This kind of rattling?

 

I've experienced the rattling and "shrinking".

 

She doesn't know about "Shrinkage"?

 

buy a espar d5 hydronic......with the controller its the best gift you can buy your engine .
especially if your up here in canada

 

I've only observed transmission temperature higher than coolant in the summer under heavy load. During the winter it only gets up to 140 degrees unless I am sitting still for a long time in gear. Then it will hit 180*F measured at the same place the temp sender is for the overdrive cutout. It is my understanding the heat exchanger under the turbo is also there to help heat the tranny fluid in the weather. The thermostat I am talking about slowly opens until it is wide open at 175*F. There is continuous flow of fluid thru the lines. It is a bypass type set up similar to the coolant thermostat. It shouldn't shock the system if it is working correctly. I think I will give it a try and will start another post when I have it together. It doesn't get real cold here for very long but I might get some meaningful data and share it.